Where’s bottom? U.S. home prices keep sliding

They haven’t hit bottom yet. U.S. home prices slipped again in October, and are now down 23.7% from their May 2007 peak, according to Zillow’s monthly housing market report.

The average national price of $147,900 in October was 0.3% down from October and 5.1% down from the same time a year ago, according to the online real estate database. There were few exceptions to the national trend – of the largest 25 metropolitan markets, only Pittsburgh has a higher home price average than last year, up 0.4%.

Zillow’s chief economist Stan Humphriessaid the results were expected, due to continued low demand and high supply.

“Potential buyers remain on the sidelines or doubled up in other households, despite record-high housing affordability and historically low mortgage rates,” he said. “This crisis of consumer confidence, along with high rates of negative equity, are the biggest factors hindering housing recovery.”

He managed to pull one positive for the market – a slight lowering in the unemployment rate, which could boost the housing market.

The average price of the largest U.S. city, New York, is now $342,500. That’s about $351,800 in Canadian dollars based on the latest exchange rate, and 26% lower than the average price of a home in Toronto in November of $477,092.

Some U.S. cities in locations popular with Canadian buyers are more than 50% below their 2007 peak, including Phoenix, down 56.9% to $120,600, and Orlando, down 56.4% to $112,600, according to Zillow.

Of major cities, Phoenix had the highest rate of foreclosure sales, according to Zillow, at 25 out of every 10,000 homes, and 41% of all resales. The national rate of foreclosure is 8.1 homes out of every 10,000.